The Kodaly Method of Music Education offers multifaceted training procedures that appear, on the basis of studies to date, to have an effect on several important nonmusical areas of childrens' development, including reading achievement. The proposed study is a significant step in establishing the scope of this influence and assessing and defining its significance in terms of important areas of childrens' growth, particularly children of early elementary school age. In two schools, a two-year intensive development study will be conducted, in which children receiving Kodaly training will be compared with children who did not receive such training. In each school, the study will be designed to cancel out the effect of the child's regular classroom teacher. Experimental (Kodaly trained) and control groups of children will be compared with respect to academic performance, notably reading, and with respect to basic abilities and attitudes that might be involved in the Method's impact on academic performance as well as be central to the child's overall development. These include auditory and visual perception, self-esteem, and aspects of social and moral development. The relationship between each of these areas and reading achievement will also be explored. Furthermore, relationships between childrens' development in these areas will be compared with their musical development in order to help determine aspects of the Method which are particularly responsible for the effects. Two other parts of the study will contribute to this question of understanding the factors in the method responsible for its influence. First, a conceptual analysis of the Method will be conducted, through observation of classes and a case study of a small group of children. Second, a survey will be conducted involving fourteen classes of children all of whom have received music instruction, but varying with respect to amounts and aspects of Kodaly music instruction emphasized. A comparison of the reading performance of these groups will be carried out to determine Kodaly teaching effects.